UPDATE:

Our November meeting will take place on December 14 – 7pm. Hope to see you there!

Dear all,

A reminder that tomorrow is our delayed November meeting. 

We have two topics to cover:

Firstly we are giving you our take on the latest macOS update, Monterey. We will share our thoughts on Apple’s latest and greatest, highlighting important new features and pitfalls to watch out for. 

Our second talk is a bit more unusual for us – we will be giving a presention all about the M1 chip. This won’t be a undergraduate lecture on the benefits of Apple’s new system on a chip, more an outline for interested parties. We will explain the importance of the M1 chip family to Apple, their key features (including how and why they are all so very impressive) and our thoughts on where Apple might go next. 

As always, we will cover all the news including the new MacBook Pros.

For joining instruction, please see the group email, or email examug@mac.com for more info.

Our November meeting (focusing on macOS Monterey and the new M1 chips) will take place on Tuesday 23 November – a couple of weeks later than normal.

More details will follow soon.

We hope to see you there.

Apple held their event…what was announced? What are iOS15 and iPadOS15 like? What are the new features? Should I upgrade now?

We will answer these questions and any others you may have!

We will cover all the news, the new products and the release of iOS15. 

Topic: examug September: iOS15, new phones, watches and iPads…

Time: Sep 21, 2021 07:00 PM London Join Zoom Meeting

All the details are in the usual group email.

July examug: Getting lost outside!

Hello all,  The sun’s been hiding, England lost on penalties, and we remain in step 3. However, it’s not all bad news – it’s our July examug next week! (A reminder it’s a week later than usual this month).  The meeting will still be over Zoom, but may be the final one like it!! We will have all the ‘usual’ zoom delights: news; Q/A; etc and our main presentation…  Our main presentation is on maps. No not those maps – instead it’s on maps for leisure; walking, biking, exploring, etc. We review some of the best digital options and highlight our favourites (hint: OS maps still rule the roost in the UK at least!).  Our second mini presentation is a special examug rundown on 5 iOS apps/services you might be interested in. We have deliberatly chosen a mixture of different types of app/service, a few big names but also the odd hidden gem! Specifically the apps are: Streaks: https://streaksapp.com Brickit: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/brickit-rebuild-your-lego/id1477221636 Justpark: https://www.justpark.com Disney+: https://www.disneyplus.com/en-gb Libby: https://libbyapp.com/welcome  It will be a great meeting, so join us on Zoom at 7.00 pm Tuesday 20 July and hear all about it. For joining instructions see the group email, or contact us if you want to attend examug@mac.com

[UPDATE: We have had to change the date of this meeting to Tuesday 25 May – apologies for the inconvience] Hello all,  The sun’s been shining, we are making good progress towards returning to normal, and May’s examug is just around the corner – lots of reasons to feel good! On our usual second Tuesday (11th) we have our May meeting. It will still be over Zoom, but may be the final one like it.   There has been lots going on since our last meeting: Apple have hosted their first event of 2021 and it was packed full.  We will go over all the news (and there is quite a lot of it), before taking a deep dive into Airtags and looking at the changes in iOS 14.5 which, as I write, should be out next week.  We will have all the ‘usual’ zoom delights: news; Q/A; etc and our main presentation…  Tag you’re it! We are going to discuss Apple’s new Airtags. Why they exist; how they work; what are the privacy issues; and are they worth it. We will have one to demo (which might be tricky over Zoom, but we will give it a go!) and we will have read up on all the details and so will be ready to answer your questions about this latest addition to Apple’s hardware lineup.  Our second mini presenation is on iOS 14.5. We will cover what’s new and why this particular update has Facebook in such a spin!  It will be a great meeting, so join us on Zoom at 7.00 pm Tuesday 25 May and hear all about it (details below).  [NEW DATE!] Oh and one more (small) thing. It’s increadible to say, but Monday 26 March marks examug’s 15th birthday! We have come a long way since our first meeting back in 2006. Just after I wrote this…   We’ve just had our first meeting and I can’t wait to tell all! It was simply, insanely great! We had over 20 people, with varying mac experience, but all keen to get involved. The cakes were great, the talk on OS X was great and just getting people together to talk Apple was great! We shared ideas, experiences and most importantly had fun. I can’t wait until our next meeting.   Some things haven’t changed much in those 15 years!  For joining instructions see the group email, or contact us if you want to attend examug@mac.com

Hello all, We hope you are all well: feeling positive and testing negative! As the vaccine rollout continues, fingers crossed, we are coming to the final chapter of this incredible pandemic.   On Tuesday we have our March meeting (still over Zoom), and we thought after lots recent meetings on iOS, it is time to give the Mac a little more love (and yes, that means we’ve chickened out on email for another session…).  We have all the ‘usual’ zoom delights: news; Q/A; etc and our main presentation…  Mini Mac apps. We are going to demo half a dozen of mini mac applications and ulitlies that will take your Mac to the next level. Some are whimsical and, although what they do can be done in other ways, they are a delight to use. Others add additional fuctionalilty to your Mac that you didn’t even know you needed – but once you see them in action you’ll never go back!  We wanted to give members the option to share any mini apps/ulitlies they use too, so be prepared to share you screen and give it a go!  Our second mini presenation is on Getting the most from your Dock. I am sure we agree the dock is great, but are you making use of all the extra things it can do? We guarantee you’ll learn something new about this simple but essential feature of MacOS.   And finally, there is light at the end of the tunnel and it seems to be getting brighter. May’s meeting looks certain to be virtual, but in July, we may be able to meet together again! We’ve even pencilled in a date for the summer social – August 17 7pm, venue TBC.  So join us on Zoom at 7.00 pm this coming Tuesday 16 March and hear all about it (email us if you need the joining instructions).

January examug:

Music to your ears!

It’s 2021 and it’s examug Zoom time again. 

We have all the ‘usual’ zoom delights: news; Q/A; iOS App pick and our main presentation…

By popular request it’s ‘Battle of the Music Services’. We will give our take on Apple Music vs Spotify vs Amazon Music. What you get for the money, what are the advantages and disadvantages of each, and what would we recommend. The answer might suprise you…

So join us on Zoom at 7.00 pm this coming Tuesday 19 January and hear all about it.

Email us if you need the meeting ID and password.

Time to get up to date with the latest and greatest Mac OS!

It’s examug time again! Apple are on the verge of releasing Big Sur (daft name – great OS) for download. So this month John, who has been bravely using the Betas and helping to squish those bugs so we don’t have to, is going to give us a run down on new features ‘under the hood’ and the changes to the interface.

With the release of the first Macs using Apple designed processors due to be announced before Christmas and Big Sur with a more iPad look to the interface, in some ways this as big a leap forward as the release of Mac OS X and the Intel Macs in the early 2000s. Yes it was that long ago!

So join us on Zoom at 7.00 pm this coming Tuesday 10th of November and ‘Hear All About It’.

Joining details are available in the email set to members.

If you would like more information, and are not currently a member, please email: examug@mac.com

We’re sorry for the cheesy title, but we’re not sorry for the great, virtual, meeting we have planned!  ISCA have confirmed we are not able to use the school as our usual venue for meetings until September at the earliest (and even then it is possible we may not be able to hold a physical meeting until the spring).  So we are going virtual!   We have looked at all the options for a virtual meeting, and we have decided to offer our July Meeting over Zoom. Despite earlier concerns, they have done a great job in sorting out the initial issues they had over security and general practices. We are now 100% confident they are the best platform to use at the moment.    The meeting will have a slighty different format, more focused on Q/A, with lots of news and views, and a presentation on a recommended piece of software.   We start with, what else, a discussion on video conferencing software. Zoom, FaceTime, Google Meet and good old Skype. What have people been using? What are our top tips? This will be chance for members to share their experiences, good and bad, during lockdown. We hope several members will be keen to share their thoughts as part of this open discussion.  Secondly, there is lots of news to discuss. New versions of iOS 14, iPadOS 14 and macOS 11 Big Sur, are just around the corner, and Apple is ditching Intel in their macs. What does all this mean? How will affect your current experiences? What is in store for the future? As usual, we will give our detailed and thoughful take along with a chance for members to ask questions on this, what is probably the biggest change to the mac in the past decade!   Finally we have a talk and short demo of the fantastic software, Downie (https://software.charliemonroe.net/downie/). This is a great addition to your mac library of apps. Ever wished you could save a video from the Internet? Search no more, Downie is what you’re looking for. Easily download videos from thousands of different sites, including YouTube and Vimeo.   Despite the format, it’s going be our usual mix of accessible presentation and chat.  It will be suitable for all, from the most techie to the newbie, and we guarantee you’ll learn something new.  The meeting will be BYOR – bring your own refreshements! Join us with your coffee in hand (or maybe something stronger…), it will be great to catch up with you all again as we all start on the pathway back to normality! We hope you can join us, and do share this email with any friends you have who may wish to join this meeting.

Date: Tuesday 14 July  Time: 6:30pm (until 8pm) – BYOR (bring your own refreshments!)  Location: Online via Zoom. Details are in the email (if you wish to join please email examug@mac.com for the meeting ID and password) ~~~~~~~~~~~ Zoom Guides  Zoom on the Mac: https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/201362033-Getting-Started-on-Windows-and-Mac  Zoom on iOS: https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/201362993-Getting-Started-with-iOS

We hope you’re keeping well and staying safe.

This brief post is confirm that, at the school’s request, May’s examug is cancelled.

We hope to see you in July!

We’re sorry for the cheesy title, but we’re not sorry for the great meeting we have planned!

We are offering our take on two of the most used tech services; maps and music!

Our main presentation is on Maps. We are going to give the lowdown on the main mapping providers. Apple, Google, OpenStreet Map and the Ordinance Survey.  We will review the key features, demo the differences and share our thoughts on the best mapping solution for different situations. It can be complex to navigate your way through all the different options available to you, but we’re here to guide you!

Our second talk is one take note of. We are looking at music subscription services. Apple Music, Spotify and Amazon Music; what’s on offer, what’s different; and whether is it worth subscribing at all given you don’t actually own the music…stop paying and ‘pop’ the music disappears. 

It’s going be our usual mix of accessible presentation and chat.  It will be suitable for all, from the most techie to the newbie, and we guarantee you’ll learn something new.

Date: Tuesday 10 March

Time: 7pm – Coffee and Cakes from 6.30pm

Location: ISCA College, Exeter

January examug: iMovie and Shortcuts

Happy New Year! 2020 sounds like the future, yet we are here, and even better, it’s our January examug next week. 

We are offering our take on two Apple pillars, one classic but evolving, the other a glimpse into the future…

Our main presentation is on iMovie. The iPhone is not just an amazing mini computer, it is an outstanding video camera. We all have hundreds of short videos on our phones, iPads and Macs, yet few of us take that extra step to compile a mini-movie. Perhaps it’s a review of Christmas, or a holiday overseas, but whatever footage you have iMovie can turn it into something special. Something that looks professionally made yet remains personal. We will review the key features of iMovie and share our hints and tips on how to make a short, simple movie using video clips and still photos. You’ll love the outcomes and so will family members you share it with. And if you end a YouTube megastar do remember us!

Our second talk is looking at a cutting edge feature on iOS; shortcuts. In this introductory session we will go over what is a shortcut?; share some suggestions on how you might improve your iOS experience using them; and how to make your own personal shortcuts. This offers a glimpse into the potential future of iOS, with some users putting all their apps in one folder and just having a home screen full of shortcuts…

That’s quite extreme, but we will be suprised if after the meeting you don’t end up creating a few shortcuts and use them regularly! 

It’s going be our usual mix of accessible presentation and chat.  It will be suitable for all, from the most techie to the newbie, and we guarantee you’ll learn something new.

Date: Tuesday 14 January

Time: 7pm – Coffee and Cakes from 6.30pm

Location: ISCA College, Exeter

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Plus a quick reminder, as agreed at the Summer AGM we are now asking for £7 if you pay per meeting (or £25 per year) and we hope members who can afford to and who wish to, will be happy to pay a little more towards the group (a membership+ if you will). We suggest £30 for those paying annually, or £10 for those paying per meeting.

Do remember all money raised goes towards the group, to cover all costs including insurance, room hire, snacks at meetings, etc. We are non-profit making, run by volunteers and are supported by members like you.

And we are able to accept contactless payment, either ApplePay or from a card.

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